3 ms·

Because there's no downtown to speak of, and everything in the town is built with single family homes and strip malls in mind, from the roads to commercial dist

by taurath 10y ago

Because there's no downtown to speak of, and everything in the town is built with single family homes and strip malls in mind, from the roads to commercial districts. There's a lot of space to sprawl and the sprawlers are the first to move in. I'd love a smaller (in land use) community to move to that is walkable and dense enough, but it just doesn't exist, or the downtown core is too expensive for the area (apartments the same as a largish house just outside).

mc32 10y ago
There is usually a "business district" in those 3-20k-resident towns, usually a couple of blocks with shops on either side or an intersection with strip malls and shops, but one or two blocks out, it's all flat and squat architecture. In some places like Alaska you do occasionally get a few apts buildings, I guess the cold kind of forces that option a bit.
- NoGravitas 10y ago
  The small-town ideal, IMO, would be an apartments-over-shops Main Street that runs for a few blocks, maybe similar construction for a few blocks on the cross streets. Then duplexes and small lot single-family homes farther out, then larger lots and farms. Small towns in the US used to be like this, but the main streets are all dead now for various reasons. (The big reason that I can think of is that franchises prefer to build their own buildings on the fringe of town rather than move into main street buildings, plus the rise of Wal-Mart, but there surely must be others.)
  - mc32 10y ago
    One counter example to franchises wanting to be in the real estate business are coffee shop chains, Starbucks, peets, phils, etc. So it is possible.
dredmorbius 10y ago
Put enough people in proximity and you'll create that downtown. Having lived in high(ish)- and low-density developments, the biggest difference is that in higher density, you walk ... a few blocks and there is at least some level of commercial activity. In low density ... you travel at least a mile, often several. And even the old town centers are evicerated -- commerce is on boulevard strips (and now is fading fast even there). Small rural towns have a WalMart, Love's, Sonic, and a boarded-up downtown. Even Silicon Valley, with its staggering home values, barely has the density to support a marginal commercial district -- Castro, California Ave., University Ave., and Santa Cruz Ave. in Mountain View, Palo Alto, and Menlo Park, respectively, come to mind. Yes, there's some retail and activity there, but it's only modestly functional. In older and more compact places which haven't entirely died, you'll find that density, and it works. It's almost always some sort of tourist destination these days, in the United States, though.
- fern12 10y ago
  >Put enough people in proximity and you'll create that downtown. I will be a fossil before this ever happens in Mountain View. I used to live in a garden-style apartment within walking distance of downtown Mountain View. It was an old building, and my rent was $1900. That was considered affordable for Mountain View, but no amount of savings could ever persuade me to move back to there. Like someone stated above, there were no amenities - no in-unit washer/dryer, no updated appliances, etc. The walls were horribly thin, and none of the cabinets or drawers closed properly. So, I'm now living in a newly-built, sterile mid-rise 12 miles away in downtown SJ. I would have loved to stay in Mountain View and keep my short commute, but there is still not enough density to bring prices down for the nicer buildings. The newer construction on El Camino are going for $3k for a 1-bedroom (and this, when the market is supposed to be cooling off). There was talk of another building going up on Shoreline, but of course the NIMBY crowd shot it down fast.
JustSomeNobody 10y ago
A walkable community is our dream. There's a huge lack of that in the U.S.

by taurath 10y ago

mc32 10y ago

There is usually a "business district" in those 3-20k-resident towns, usually a couple of blocks with shops on either side or an intersection with strip malls and shops, but one or two blocks out, it's all flat and squat architecture. In some places like Alaska you do occasionally get a few apts buildings, I guess the cold kind of forces that option a bit.

NoGravitas 10y ago
The small-town ideal, IMO, would be an apartments-over-shops Main Street that runs for a few blocks, maybe similar construction for a few blocks on the cross streets. Then duplexes and small lot single-family homes farther out, then larger lots and farms. Small towns in the US used to be like this, but the main streets are all dead now for various reasons. (The big reason that I can think of is that franchises prefer to build their own buildings on the fringe of town rather than move into main street buildings, plus the rise of Wal-Mart, but there surely must be others.)
- mc32 10y ago
  One counter example to franchises wanting to be in the real estate business are coffee shop chains, Starbucks, peets, phils, etc. So it is possible.

dredmorbius 10y ago

Put enough people in proximity and you'll create that downtown. Having lived in high(ish)- and low-density developments, the biggest difference is that in higher density, you walk ... a few blocks and there is at least some level of commercial activity. In low density ... you travel at least a mile, often several. And even the old town centers are evicerated -- commerce is on boulevard strips (and now is fading fast even there). Small rural towns have a WalMart, Love's, Sonic, and a boarded-up downtown. Even Silicon Valley, with its staggering home values, barely has the density to support a marginal commercial district -- Castro, California Ave., University Ave., and Santa Cruz Ave. in Mountain View, Palo Alto, and Menlo Park, respectively, come to mind. Yes, there's some retail and activity there, but it's only modestly functional. In older and more compact places which haven't entirely died, you'll find that density, and it works. It's almost always some sort of tourist destination these days, in the United States, though.

fern12 10y ago
>Put enough people in proximity and you'll create that downtown. I will be a fossil before this ever happens in Mountain View. I used to live in a garden-style apartment within walking distance of downtown Mountain View. It was an old building, and my rent was $1900. That was considered affordable for Mountain View, but no amount of savings could ever persuade me to move back to there. Like someone stated above, there were no amenities - no in-unit washer/dryer, no updated appliances, etc. The walls were horribly thin, and none of the cabinets or drawers closed properly. So, I'm now living in a newly-built, sterile mid-rise 12 miles away in downtown SJ. I would have loved to stay in Mountain View and keep my short commute, but there is still not enough density to bring prices down for the nicer buildings. The newer construction on El Camino are going for $3k for a 1-bedroom (and this, when the market is supposed to be cooling off). There was talk of another building going up on Shoreline, but of course the NIMBY crowd shot it down fast.

JustSomeNobody 10y ago

A walkable community is our dream. There's a huge lack of that in the U.S.